Dec 24, 2015

Hello everyone! 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea part 1 is finally here. Sorry about the delay...but it's Christmas and I just get completely out of schedule during vacation. If you want to see how my love for anything Korean began check out Part 1 of this blog post series: PART 1

PART 2:
Today I will be introducing the various methods and ways I use to study Korean. First of all, let me begin by saying I am merely a beginner. I've only been studying for three months, and without an actual teacher. But if like me, your days are hectic and you cannot commit to actual classes and teachers, then studying by yourself with the help of online content, websites and books is your only(?) option. And, for me at least, it really works.

I study with the podcast lessons of talktomeinkorean.com (TTMIK). They have nine different levels, starting with level one. The two main teachers areHyunwoo Sun (선현우) and Kyeong-eun Choi (최경은). These guys are pretty hilarious. Their chemistry is really good and every lesson flows perfectly. Every lesson is accompanied by the recording of the lesson and a pdf with everything that was covered in it and all these are completely free. There are also quite a few books that TTMIK has released and they are all beautifully compiled. I use the workbooks with every lesson and I've also bought the Verbs Guide and The Weekly Korean Vocabulary and a few more ebooks and audiobooks. When I get back to London I plan on ordering the textbooks too. But the main ones I believe you need to have are the workbooks and they are pretty much enough if you use them along with the free online lessons. You can check all the TTMIK books HERE. Also, a big shout-out to their online store, because I can always find the books cheaper there even though they ship from Korea and they usually have great sales and bundles.

Also, just recently TTMIK has released an audiobook/ebook with Korean Folk Tales and Aesop's Fables that is just precious. And they are working on more audiobooks (which are great listening practice).

So, these are all the methods and ways I use to study Korean. I am just about to start Level 3 of TTMIK and even though my speaking skills are lacking, due to the fact that I have no one to practice with, my reading and listening skills have been constantly improving.

Here is a preview of what's to come this month and what has already been discussed.

Dec 14, 2015

Hello everyone! Or better yet: 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea is going to be a new segment in my blog (that has been slowly dying). The first month I will start with an introduction about how I got into Korean and Korea life in general and the different Korean resources I've been using and many more. So if you are a K-drama, K-pop fan, or a Korea fan in general stay tuned.

After the first introductory month I will be doing a monthly wrap-up post about anything Korean that has caught my attention.

So, let's begin with WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

PART 1:
First of all as some of you might know, because of the amount of manga I am reviewing in this blog I love Japan and anything Japanese, I've also tried learning Japanese a few years back but the writing system is a b*tch and I gave up after a few months. However I still listened to J-rock/pop (it's probably still my favorite music genre). Through J-rock/pop I came across a Korean group: Big Bang. That was probably 5-6 years ago, when Big Bang were not as huge as they are today. So I came across one of their Japanese pop songs, Gara Gara Go

You can tell it's a pretty old song, but it was so catchy that I loved it. And that was pretty much my only K-pop experience until a couple of months ago...

At the end of September Buzzfeed and The Try Guys who I adore, released a series of 5 videos about K-pop and Korea culture in general. You can watch the five hilarious videos HERE. On the very first video they listened to a few new K-pop songs and one of them was Bang Bang Bang by Big Bang, so for me that was the rabbit hole and just like Alice I down I went and lost my self in Korean Wonderland.

This was a brief explanation of how I got into K-pop and what drove me to start learning Korean (understanding lyrics). Here is a preview of what's to come this month.

Dec 6, 2015

Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.

Hey guys! I am back! Where have I been and what have I done for the whole of November? Mostly, I was just busy with Uni and my birthday and other people's birthdays (November is a very busy birthday month) and also, I live in London so there is always something new to see and do. And that's how a whole month went by and I didn't do much reading or blogging.

But you are here to see what books I got for this last month, so let's get one with it.

As I mentioned above November is my birthday month so I got some gifts, like the Hogwarts Library Set and the Harry Potter stationary box and The Black Swan and A Christmas Cracker. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the Harry Potter stationary box is. It even has a beautiful notebook to go along with it, Amazing! A lot of people will be getting Christmas Letters from me this year.
This month, I also bought The Rithmatist, Sea of Shadows and Shadowlands, all three are books I am quite excited about.
Finally I got some audiobooks. I got the whole set of the Dwellers Saga. I listened to the first book a few months ago and it was really good, now I am ready to listen to the rest of the series. Also, I got The Faerie Prince. I loved The Faerie Guardian (the first book of the series) and I am really looking forward to more of Violet's awesomeness.

With A Feast for Crows, Martin delivers the long-awaited fourth volume of the landmark series that has redefined imaginative fiction and stands as a modern masterpiece in the making.

After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous new alliances are formed while surprising faces—some familiar, others only just appearing—emerge from an ominous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes...and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests—but only a few are the survivors.

Burning Sky (Sora Gate, #1)
Now available on Wattpad
New chapters added every Tuesday.